Ok there a numerous threads on all the problems we feel we are facing but Gary Gold in his latest interview has stated he feels we are in a better position than we were last year.

I immediately laughed at this point but have spent like most, many an hour having a think, here is my positive spin on it all.

Off the Pitch
So we have lost near on 16 million over a period, a horrendous amount of money, however a good proportion of this has been spent on our facilities.

1. We own our own ground
2. There is room on this ground for further development to increase revenue, which is what is needed to compete in the league, look at London Welsh.

So our current owners wish to sell or look for further investment, can't blame them, but maybe it is not about them pulling the plug and walking away.

Bill Bolsover stated in his interview with BBC Hereford and Worcester that in order for Premiership Clubs to survive and be competitive they will need additional revenue streams, maybe the current major share holder does not want to plough more money in to achieve this and for the sake of the club, fans and all the staff has made this decision for the future and longevity of OUR CLUB, knowing that there will be a new owner out there wishing to take the club forward further.

We do know that Ed Griffiths had put an offer forward but Bill Bolsover mentioned that this was not accepted or not on the table for consideration as the current owners wish to find the right type of buyer.

Maybe, just maybe the offer was deemed not good enough for all concerned, I do not mean financialy but maybe their plan for the future was not for the good enough future of OUR CLUB.

So to sum up, maybe the current owners respectively are thinking about the future and not just about grabbing the best bid and running.

Let's take London Irish for example, they do not own their own ground, their gate receipts are less than ours, how are they going to fund that long term? We have already seen in the press they are looking for additional investment of 10 million, that is a 10 million gift surely, not an investment as currently they have no infrastructure to be able to increase revenue streams to pay it back.

The tide is turning in professional rugby, for those wanting to stay in the fight, will need to increase revenue from else where and we have the possibility of that happening, there are many other clubs in the Premiership who don't have that luxury.

On Field
Yeah, it's not been great has it from a results point of view? 5 losses, second in the league for most points conceded and least amount of points scored, we really are struggling to break defences down, so what's different from last year.

Injuries and lack of strength in depth, obviously. So why does Gary Gold think we are in a better place on field than last year?

Last year on pitch we looked pretty rudderless at times and so far this season despite two pretty green 10s taking to the field I feel we have a much greater structure about us.

Despite the injuries to the front row, our scrum and pack has not been demolished at all and these young players if they stay fit will only get better.

We have missed a decent 9, I have said this before, in todays game particularly with the rule changes a good 9 is more important than the 10 (the 10 or whoever takes kicks does need to have a good kicking percentage though)

The changes at ruck will suite Hougaard, Baldwin and Dowsett, both are quick to the breakdown and will snipe the fringes, not long before they will all be back now.

Last year we beat Sarries at home, an under strength Sarries that was, and despite their injury list this year personally I feel that was a stronger team, ours was pretty much full strength last year.

So with an under strength team we held them to 3 tries, previously this year their average had been 4.5 per game prior to last Friday, despite the loss I was not despondent.

We know we can score tries, but our two key playmaker positions have sustained injuries, and we have been unfortunate, personally I feel we only need one of those positions to be filled and we will see improved results, with both filled with experience who knows.

So we come to a new DOR, this is the first opportunity in years, to offer out the club, a club with a future and a good academy.

Gary Gold was bought in last minute to keep us up.
Dean Ryan, clearly stated he wasn't looking for a role as DOR at the time he was approached and despite his 5 year plan he obviously after a point didn't have his heart in it.
Richard Hill was bought in during the off season, in fact most of our DORs have been bought in during the summer break, we now have time and the opportunity to find the right person.

What I do hope is the club do not let me down on my thoughts of the above.

I know there will be many posters picking this apart after I post it, that is your prerogative, this is just my take on where we are at currently.

An interesting assessment (pity about the unneccessary adjective regarding 10's -Shilcock is a great prospect-just hope he does not have a sensetive nature ) .
The club as I understand it has no debt . £16.5 million was written off. What fantastic generosity .Plus the incredible generosity of Cecil Duckworth to give the area such a magnificent gift as a professional sports club and the opportunities that go with that for so many people in different ways. The club is not merely a group of buildings around a rectangular pitch --it has effects that ripple widely out into the community .There is no doubt that things are in place whereby investment in imaginative developments around the existing facilities could easily producce the income needed to support the rugby and still generate a profit for investors .P.S. I am just a geriatric season ticket holder -notthing more .

KDDDD - Premiership rugby is evolving, only those capable of changing and having the infrastructure to change will survive, in 10 years time we may have the identity and the ground, London Irish could be consigned to the lower echelons of Rugby.

This is not a dig on London Irish by the way, just using them as an example of the differences between us.

A pretty measured and fair assessment of where we are and the issues we face - such a pity that others choose to make daft comments. Aside from funding the whole thing - a question so fundamental that without a good and sustainable answer we have no future - the next key issue is the new DoR/head coach.

The comments on here over the last few days about GG have been unworthy in my view. He came to us in a crisis and sorted things out; we stayed up; he said he would stay for a year - he is staying for a year. The fact that he has been offered an attractive role at the end of that period in the USA ( rather than SA) is irrelevant - he has not changed what he said he was going to do in any way at all. He said he would do a year.

Who do we try to recruit? Are there people out there who want to commit for the long term? is it important? They are employees - why should they commit to 3 or 5 years when we would show them mo loyalty at all if the results went south? Obviously repeated change as against continuity is going to be damaging but 2-3 years is long enough, isn't it?

JP - I do appreciate the effort you have put in to establish the team last year had very little difference in strength, however:

I must not have put my point of view across properly, one of the reasons we are losing as you so rightly say is because we are not scoring tries, we are not scoring trying because of injury we do not have experienced playmakers at 9 and 10 on the pitch which also has meant a lack of continuity.

For the first 5 games last year we had the same scrum half starting in Johnny Arr with Luke Baldwin on the bench, that was for all of the first 5 games.

Fly half for the first 5 games last year was swapped between Tom Heathcote and Ryan Lamb and those two only.

This Year:

Falcons - Heathcote replaced by Olver on 55 mins
Wasps - Heathcote replaced by Olver on 43 mins
Chiefs - Heathcote replaced by Olver on 11 mins, replaced by Shillcock on 53 mins
Gloucs - Mills on four the whoel game, 3 tries and a losing bonus point away, considerably better than last year as I was there....
Sarries - Shillcock for the whole game

Therefore my point is there is a definitive reason this year that we are not scoring tries and winning, with players back from injury I think we are in a better place, and so from his later interview does Gary Gold.

KenDoddsDadsDogsDeadLets merge with London Irish. Then one way or another we won't go down.
We'll get an identity and they'll get a ground.

I know this was a joke, but I really like this idea. Turn 2 struggling clubs with 2 bleak futures into 1 successful club with a very positive future. I'd rather be Worcester Irish than Worcester Warriors.

Do you remember the furore last year when Racing Paris and Stade Francais suggested getting together.

Reading and Worcester are not the same city, but the newly formed club would jettison 20-30 players at a minimum, and both sets of supporters would argue over the 4 leaf Pear emblem until we died of boredom.

I see what you are getting at, but Rugby clubs tend to prefer to 'die' quietly and by themselves. Take a look at Nat Div 1 and 2 and see some once great names.Others are no longer. Cov are trying to steal themselves back now 'Hornets' are in the city.

I doubt any local club would want to be merged with us, and i extend that doubt to fellow Prem or Championship sides. They'd much prefer to see us implode and drop back down the leagues.

Old ColAn interesting assessment (pity about the unneccessary adjective regarding 10's -Shilcock is a great prospect-just hope he does not have a sensetive nature ) .

Quote:

Faithful Citythis Season it has been Heathcote 60%, Silly and Mills 20%

I think we are now pushing his ("Silly's") sensitivity a little too far!

I think we are also pushing the credibility of statistics a little too far as well. Since Olver has actually been on the field for 104 minutes (based on Northstand Warrior's rather more credible data!) he probably merits a mention since this represents 26% of the game time this season. The 60%, 20%, 20% referred to in the last quote actually represents the rather useless data of what percentage of the FIRST MINUTE of each game the players were at No. 10

Must admit, think we are being just a touch derogatory calling Shilcock "silly".
He is a young kid who last season was being talked as "our future" & we had "better not lose him". Now the same call him "silly", come on give the lad a break.

Am I being Sensitive or are some trying to make this predicament we find ourself in, into a full blown tragedy, with club on life support, destined for the Championship and going bust in a Day or two.
It just seems odd to me, when a Falcon supporter comes on and laughs at us for doing this ever year, with graphs, charts, comparisons etc.
I do recall similar posts last year but didn't really pay that much attention as I hardly posted, but is there an element of truth in what the Falcon supporter's said?
Are some just on suicide watch......again?

northstand warriorOk there a numerous threads on all the problems we feel we are facing but Gary Gold in his latest interview has stated he feels we are in a better position than we were last year.
I immediately laughed at this point but have spent like most, many an hour having a think, here is my positive spin on it all.

Off the Pitch
So we have lost near on 16 million over a period, a horrendous amount of money, however a good proportion of this has been spent on our facilities.

1. We own our own ground
2. There is room on this ground for further development to increase revenue, which is what is needed to compete in the league, look at London Welsh.

So our current owners wish to sell or look for further investment, can't blame them, but maybe it is not about them pulling the plug and walking away.

Bill Bolsover stated in his interview with BBC Hereford and Worcester that in order for Premiership Clubs to survive and be competitive they will need additional revenue streams, maybe the current major share holder does not want to plough more money in to achieve this and for the sake of the club, fans and all the staff has made this decision for the future and longevity of OUR CLUB, knowing that there will be a new owner out there wishing to take the club forward further.

We do know that Ed Griffiths had put an offer forward but Bill Bolsover mentioned that this was not accepted or not on the table for consideration as the current owners wish to find the right type of buyer.

Maybe, just maybe the offer was deemed not good enough for all concerned, I do not mean financialy but maybe their plan for the future was not for the good enough future of OUR CLUB.

So to sum up, maybe the current owners respectively are thinking about the future and not just about grabbing the best bid and running.

Let's take London Irish for example, they do not own their own ground, their gate receipts are less than ours, how are they going to fund that long term? We have already seen in the press they are looking for additional investment of 10 million, that is a 10 million gift surely, not an investment as currently they have no infrastructure to be able to increase revenue streams to pay it back.

The tide is turning in professional rugby, for those wanting to stay in the fight, will need to increase revenue from else where and we have the possibility of that happening, there are many other clubs in the Premiership who don't have that luxury.

On Field
Yeah, it's not been great has it from a results point of view? 5 losses, second in the league for most points conceded and least amount of points scored, we really are struggling to break defences down, so what's different from last year.

Injuries and lack of strength in depth, obviously. So why does Gary Gold think we are in a better place on field than last year?

Last year on pitch we looked pretty rudderless at times and so far this season despite two pretty green 10s taking to the field I feel we have a much greater structure about us.

Despite the injuries to the front row, our scrum and pack has not been demolished at all and these young players if they stay fit will only get better.

We have missed a decent 9, I have said this before, in todays game particularly with the rule changes a good 9 is more important than the 10 (the 10 or whoever takes kicks does need to have a good kicking percentage though)

The changes at ruck will suite Hougaard, Baldwin and Dowsett, both are quick to the breakdown and will snipe the fringes, not long before they will all be back now.

Last year we beat Sarries at home, an under strength Sarries that was, and despite their injury list this year personally I feel that was a stronger team, ours was pretty much full strength last year.

So with an under strength team we held them to 3 tries, previously this year their average had been 4.5 per game prior to last Friday, despite the loss I was not despondent.

We know we can score tries, but our two key playmaker positions have sustained injuries, and we have been unfortunate, personally I feel we only need one of those positions to be filled and we will see improved results, with both filled with experience who knows.

So we come to a new DOR, this is the first opportunity in years, to offer out the club, a club with a future and a good academy.

Gary Gold was bought in last minute to keep us up.
Dean Ryan, clearly stated he wasn't looking for a role as DOR at the time he was approached and despite his 5 year plan he obviously after a point didn't have his heart in it.
Richard Hill was bought in during the off season, in fact most of our DORs have been bought in during the summer break, we now have time and the opportunity to find the right person.

What I do hope is the club do not let me down on my thoughts of the above.

I know there will be many posters picking this apart after I post it, that is your prerogative, this is just my take on where we are at currently.

Meanwhile, back to the title of the thread, this little ode was nicked from is based on a Mabel Lucy Attwell verse that some of you may remember:

Please remember, donít forget
We are not relegated yet
Neither should we be downhearted
Before FH has even started
Nor moan about our missing 10
Nor mourn our list of injured men.
It took some time, did building Rome
So donít avoid the games at home
But come, and let your passion show;
Thereís more than seven months to go!

It's all very well 'bigging' up your facilities but these mean nothing if you can't hack it on the pitch. Sorry, but all professional sport is a results driven business, and at the moment Worcester are in pole position for the drop. How many more times will your fan base accept your yoyo existence?

One losing bonus point from 6 games isn't a very good return, is it? and that point was gained against a team that had to play with 14 men for the final 15 minutes.

Sorry but I think it's going to a very long and dismal winter at Sixways and what does next season hold for you? Your DR is off at the end of the season and the purse strings are already being tightened & will probably get even tighter in readiness for the Championship.

It's going to be difficult to recruit a replacement DR with little or no budget to rebuild the squad. And as for a new owner, it's going to need someone with extremely deep pockets to take on the accumulated debt.

If the IP have a look, it wouldnít surprise me if it was one of our own.

If it isnít, then the concern is wierd. Tells us nothing we donít know of problems we are fully aware and as a result suggesting weíre the next LW is a proverbial middle finger to Warriors. Your choice of course but you come across as pathetic as we are currently on the pitch.

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